Surgery For Cervical Herniated Disc

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Surgery For Cervical Herniated Disc

Pain in the neck can be indicative of many underlying conditions but a herniated disc in the neck, technically known as a cervical herniated disc, can be one of the most painful and difficult to treat. In most cases, rest and therapy can eliminate the pain in a few weeks to a couple of months but in cases where the pain persists for six months to a year, surgery for cervical herniated disc is a viable option with a high degree of success.

There are many ways to proceed with surgery for cervical herniated disc. The first and most common type is an anterior cervical discectomy and spine fusion. This surgery for cervical herniated disc method is done with a small incision in the front of the neck and removing the misaligned disc. The vacated portion is then repaired by fusing adjacent vertebrae and attaching a plate to the area to provide extra stability.
The anterior cervical discectomy is preferred for two reasons: 1) it is the least invasive procedure available to the medical community, and 2) vertebra fusion provides sufficient mechanical support to the area to promote complete healing. However, the main disadvantage of this procedure is the fact that a poorly fused vertebra can lead to further complications down the road and predicting these complications can be a hard task especially in very complicated cases.

Following the anterior cervical discectomy and spin fusion surgery for a herniated disc in the neck, the next preferred method is anterior discectomy without spine fusion. In this case, the same incision is done to remove the herniated disc but no bone graft is added to facilitate fusion. In the cases where this method has been used, healing requires a longer period and the finally fused bone via natural means. However, with this method of surgery for cervical herniated disc some degree of misalignment or deformity at time occurs because of the absence of a mechanical support.

The third type of surgery for cervical herniated disc is posterior cervical discectomy and is done via the posterior portion of the spine. Only in special cases where the anterior approach does not seem viable will the posterior direction be considered. There are inherent difficulties associated with performing surgery for herniated disc in neck from this direction, most notably that the operation requires considerable manipulation of the spinal cord and the abundance of blood vessels in the area. This can lead to more bleeding which limits vision during surgery. Still, there are cases where this is the only surgery for cervical herniated disc that can be performed and will require the services of an experienced surgeon for a high success rate.

Wherever possible, surgery shouldn’t be performed for herniated disc of any kind all other less invasive techniques have been tried to no avail and the pain is getting worse. While there is already extensive experience and knowledge concerning surgery for cervical herniated disc, surgery remains to be a highly risky procedure with inherent complications. Always go for the lowest risk, highest reward treatment option before going out of your way to consider surgeries such as a discectomy.

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